


Emotional Bravery Patch

by Palizinha



Series: Phinabella musings [1]
Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Canon Compliant, F/M, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27203008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palizinha/pseuds/Palizinha
Summary: One month away from her graduation as a Fireside Girl, Isabella knows she only has one more shot at earning her last remaining patch.Too bad she lives in Danville.
Relationships: Phineas Flynn/Isabella Garcia-Shapiro
Series: Phinabella musings [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2061606
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	Emotional Bravery Patch

It was Isabella’s last month as a Fireside Girl.

Once, when she was five years old, she had announced to Phineas Flynn that she would be the first Fireside Girl to ever earn every single patch. Five-year-old Isabella had been sure it was possible.

Current Isabella… wasn’t quite as confident.

Because there was only one patch left for her.

When you try to earn a patch, you can only do it twice. If you fail both times, you aren’t allowed a third try. Technically, Isabella had been trying it every day for eleven summers, but it only counted if you were actively trying to get it.

The Emotional Bravery Patch.

Isabella wasn’t sure whether she could count her one real try at telling Phineas as an actual try, because getting sidetracked by everyone around turning into pharmacists was an exception, wasn’t it?

But she did want to earn the patch, and finally tell Phineas how she felt about him, and so, there was a plan.

It was a very simple plan, of course. One she had tried before, but… it was her one shot, and she’d see it through. Though she might have to move to Belgium afterwards.

She would get up to Phineas, pull him aside from the boys, and finally tell him…

Isabella’s thoughts were sidetracked as she looked at Phineas for the first time that day. They had seen each other the previous afternoon, but it had still been quite a while away from him.

“Isabella!” Phineas said, waving at her, his amazing smile on his face.

“Phineas… can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?” Isabella asked, making sure for once Phineas didn’t get distracted.

“Sure, Isabella. Do you need help with some last month of Fireside Girl stuff?” Phineas asked, already looking ready to drop whatever project he was working with in order to help her with anything she needed. And people wondered why she had such a huge crush on him.

“It does have to do with that, but it’s a bit more… personal than the usual patches,” Isabella said. “I only have one patch left to earn, the Emotional Bravery Patch. You can get it by going up to someone and telling them something you’ve never told them before. Something really important.”

“And you chose me?” Phineas asked, and Isabella let herself hope due to how he looked at her just then.

“It… kinda has to be you,” Isabella stopped and took a deep breath. She could do it. “Phineas, for the longest time… I’ve had a huge crush on you.”

Isabella had wondered, many, many times, how Phineas would react to such a confession. Would he be happy and want to be with her? Would he be happy but admit he didn’t feel the same way? Would it ruin their life-long friendship?

Whatever Isabella had expected, it didn’t match the sudden green light that came from the sky and hit Phineas.

Isabella had been around for enough summers to be aware that green lights came from the sky sometimes, and made things turn into lint, or melt, or disappear. As she didn’t want any of those things to happen to Phineas, she just waited until the light faded.

When it did, Phineas seemed… alright?

And then it happened.

“Isabella! What can I do for you?” Phineas asked with his usual smile, as if they hadn’t just been talking.

The reason why he didn’t know they had been talking… was amnesia.

Because of course, the one time Isabella worked up courage to tell Phineas how she felt about him, green light would come from the sky and erase his memory of her saying it.

It felt like a sign.

* * *

“A sign?” Adyson asked. “So what, Phineas forgot? This is Danville, this type of stuff happens! Go back there and try again!”

The Fireside Girls sat in Isabella's mother’s restaurant, discussing the latest Danville mess.

“In any case, you did it. You earned the patch,” Gretchen pointed out.

“I know that,” Isabella said. “But that is not the problem. So I got the last patch I needed! I thought I’d be happy about this, but Phineas forgot. He just… forgot. And if he forgot, that means it wasn’t important enough for him to remember, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t think it’s really relevant how important a memory is when it comes to erasing memories though,” Ginger pointed out.

“I know it doesn’t make sense. But the fact that this type of thing can even happen makes no sense. Things always turn out well for Phineas and Ferb, it’s a scientific fact. So that wasn’t an exception. It’s better for Phineas, for whatever reason, if he doesn’t remember that I’m in love with him,” Isabella said. “Which means… I can’t keep this going.”

“So you’re… giving up?” Adyson asked incredulously. “That won’t last. Next week you’ll come up with a new scheme to make Phineas fall in love with you.”

“I’m giving up, yes,” Isabella nodded. “Phineas will always be my best friend, but I need to stop thinking about this. I’ll be really busy this month with all the work we have to do for our graduation, and I think it’s better if this means I won’t be over at the Flynn-Fletcher’s every day.”

Isabella couldn’t spend her whole life hung up on Phineas when he would never realize how she felt about him, when apparently things going right for him meant not knowing.

It would be hard, but she could do this.

High school would start soon, and alongside it, a new Isabella.


End file.
